Return of the Cetra
by Nu1
Summary: A scientist is causing serious damage to the lifestream by ressurecting the long dead, like Aeris and Sephiroth, and everyone must come together to stop him.
1. Resurection

Disclaimer: If I owned the FF characters, than Yuffie would be mine, all mine!!! Erh... *looks around nervously embarrassed* ...I... heh... *takes off in a run in the opposite direction*. 

Chapter 1: Rebirth of Sephiroth

In the underwater reactor at Junion, the reactor core (where the mako is condensed) began to shake as it was suddenly sent into action after a year of being defunct. From above the core, the once green glow changed to a fierce crimson. As the scarlet glow became brighter and brighter the reactor began to shake more and more until it suddenly exploded. Nearly a dozen ShinRa guards hurried to the reactor core to inspect the explosion, only to find a body amidst the metal scraps. As the man looked up and his piercing, glowing, green eyes locked on the nearest guard, a look of recognition and fear washed over the guards' faces. Turning, every guard ran from the man on the floor as he stood. Suddenly, another explosion rocked the reactor sending the man washing out into the deep ocean. 

"Well, that's the end of him," One guard sighed.

"Don't be so sure," said another, "He died before."

"I knew I shouldn't have done this," a man in a white lab coat groaned as he looked down at his instruments. "Damn it, now I need a new reactor."

As the sun began to set, throwing long shadows over the lower level of Junion, a body washed up on the shore. As the nearly lifeless man unconsciously gasped for breath on the cold, damp sand, a woman of 18, one who often came to this beach to remember her old dolphin friend, saw him lying there and, slightly recognizing his face, decided to bring him back to her house to recover. Dragging his body up the long flight of stares, and apologizing to the oblivious body every time his head hit a step, she pulled him through the door, past her shrine to Cloud, and dumped him on her bed. 

"You just rest here until you get better," the woman said to the sleeping body, pulling the blanket over him, "You know, you look familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it... oh well. I'll ask you when you get better." On that note, she left, leaving the silver haired man alone in the bed. It was only a few minutes before the man opened his piercing, green eyes and looked around the house, though it was more of a wooden shack. Standing, he moved to one of the shack's windows and looked out over the ruined town of lower Junion. Suddenly, a flood of memories came back in a flash. He was walking through lower Junion—than he knocked out the elevator guard and proceeded through the streets of upper Junion—he was hiding on a boat as it rocked in the ocean—he was surrounded by dead bodies, a bloody, long katana in hand and a sinister smile on his face—a man came up from behind him, he fled, and Jenova fought them. The man looked down at his side... there was the sword that was once covered in blood. He unsheathed it. 

The Murasame... its blade, once crimson with the blood of innocents, was now cold, bright, and sterile, the same steel color as his hair. The Murasame... it's name brought a slight tinge of regret to him with every memory it held, every soul it had unwillingly freed to the lifestream... he hated it... but couldn't part with it. Quickly, he re-sheathed it and continued to reflect on the memories he had just reclaimed. The man with blond hair... Cloud. His friends—Barret, Red... something, Cid, Yuffie, Vincent, Tifa, Aeris... Aeris. The woman he'd slaughtered, much to Cloud's anguish. Tifa, he'd hurt her too... killed her father, burned her town, gravely injured her... how she hated him. Vincent, Vincent's cold eyes had softened when he looked at him, whatever that was about... perhaps... ugh. They all hated him for one reason or another... oh, and there was that white blob with a cat... Cait Sith... yes... whatever the hell he was. No matter, nothing mattered but one, he had to find Cloud. As his train of thought reached its end, the man, Sephiroth, left the shack and, riding up the elevator, proceeded down the streets of Junion. 

Midway through Junion, the ShinRa guards, who were now off duty, crossed paths with the black clothed man, who was still sopping wet from being in the ocean.

"Dear god! He's back!" The closest soldier yelled as he spotted Sephiroth.

"I told you," said another.

"This is no time to gloat," the first shot back.

"S-s-s-s-ephiroth... w-w-w-we c-c-c-can't let you th-through... s-s-sorry..." a third guard stuttered out. Each of the seven guards drew a rifle from off their back and began to level them at Sephiroth.

"That's too bad..." Sephiroth said, unsheathing his Muramasa and swinging it around in front of him to get a feel for its weight and balance, "...and I was going to let you off the hook. I'll still give you a chance to run."

"N-n-n-no... w-w-w-we won't let you go," said the stuttering guard.

"Okay," said all the other guards at the same time, turning tail and running.

"Looks like you're all alone."

"Erh..."

"You can stand here, but I'm going," Sephiroth said, walking past the guard while still holding his Muramasa. As Sephiroth took but one step past the guard, the guard took off running at full speed, dropping his rifle to the ground. Sephiroth laughed slightly as he continued on his way to the harbor. He had to get to... Nibelham... Cloud's, and his, home. Nibelham... the reactor in Nibelham... that was where he'd come from. One of Hojo's experiments. But he'd have plenty of time to reflect on his regrets on the boat ride, now, he had to focus. Sephiroth arrived at, and sneaked into, the ship with little further difficulty and, though he heard the sound of guards running around, he wasn't found. Eventually, the ShinRa gave up and the ship, and Sephiroth, was on its way. Leaning back against one of the ships bulkheads, with his arm on his drawn up knee, Sephiroth closed his eyes and thought. ...Cloud... that first time on this ship, when Cloud fought Jenova... his mother... NO!! Jenova was NOT his mother! She... _it_ never would be! Lucricia and Hojo were his parents, one was mentally deranged, and the other was dead. He had been made by cells from Lucricia, Hojo, and Jenova—ha, he had two mothers and a man who looked at him lovingly every time they met... ugh—in Nibelham... Nibelham. Another blast of memories came flooding back.

He was back in the ShinRa Mansion, reading books... hundreds of reports on the Jenova project—he was looking out the door of the mansion, out into the quaint little town of Nibelham that he hated so very much for all the pathetic humans—he was out in the town, fire magic erupting around him at his command, the houses in flame and people screaming, he was smiling—he was on Mount Nibel—he was inside the reactor—there was Jenova. Sephiroth clutched his head... to witness such horrible memories through his own eyes, but unable to stop what he was doing. It was as if someone else was controlling his body. Was it Jenova? Perhaps... no... or yes... he couldn't tell. Wow, he was as messed up as Cloud! The rocking of the boat started to lull Sephiroth to sleep... how could he want to sleep after being dead for a few years!? But that didn't matter and, soon, he had succumbed to sleep, to dream the nightmares of his past. 

Sephiroth awoke to find himself curled up, shaking, and drenched in sweat. Standing, he shook his head as if to dislodge the memories, and the dreams, and send them flying, to be forgotten, but they would never be forgotten, not so long as Sephiroth lived. The steel haired man, deciding to go for a walk, headed for the upper deck, only to find that the ship was already in Costa del Sol. 

"How long have I been asleep?" Sephiroth wondered, leaping from the deck and landing on the dock of Costa del Sol. Sephiroth quickly left town, his black cape fluttering behind him as he disappeared into the warm night.

Cloud awoke in a bed, Tifa's, with her asleep, half-naked, next to him. But this, oddly enough, wasn't what was on his mind. It was Aeris, not Tifa, who filled his thoughts. It had been far too long to be obsessing as much as he still was, but her face, her smiling, dead face, was what filled his thoughts in sleep, and while awake. It was always her staring back at him, smiling, dead... always dead. Her dead face as she floated gently to the bottom of the lake in the city of the ancients. That was, perhaps, exactly where she was supposed to be, exactly where she should die, so close to her hometown, and in the land of her ancestors. There was some poetic justice in that, but no piece, not for Cloud anyway, and, therefore, not for Tifa either. She was still chasing him, unrelentingly, unremittingly, and indefatigably... though each of these words means simply that she won't give up until Cloud does. It sometimes amazed Cloud how she could stay so kind and caring towards him after all these years obsessing over Aeris, but mostly, he just thought of Aeris. Tonight the thoughts were stronger, the remorse more overpowering.

A cold breeze blew through the slightly opened window. It had been cold in the city of the ancients. The stars twinkled in the dark sky. Aeris' eyes twinkled as she sank through the water. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to get out. So Cloud, as quietly as he could, slipped out from under the covers and climbed down the stairs, making his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. With his newly filled glass, Cloud eased the front door open and slipped out of the house, setting off on a walk through Nibelham, though he had no idea where he was going. Eventually, he came upon the ShinRa Mansion, where Vincent lived. Perhaps Vincent could help him forget... HA!!!!! Vincent, forget! That was exactly what Vincent didn't want to do about that which hurt him... besides, he could barely bring himself to look at the mansion, let alone enter it, because of the memories it brought back, of Sephiroth. Just the memories of what he'd done to Aeris brought a shudder to Cloud's spine. Aeris... he had to go see her... but would Tifa... no, he couldn't tell her. He had to go alone. First, though, he'd need a way to get to the city of the ancients. Cid would have a plane of some kind, so now he'd have to go to Rocket Town. 

Cloud trudged up the path through Mount Nibel, he'd left a note on the table for Tifa, but he couldn't tell her where he was going, he needed to be alone. The cold, thin mountain air swirled around him, in some places blocked by the mountain, and in some places amplified and coming close to sending Cloud over the steep edge of the mountain. Cloud soon crossed a long bridge and came upon the mako reactor that sat upon Mount Nibel... this was where he'd first fought Sephiroth. It was then that he noticed the odd green glow emanating from the reactor. The glow of mako, that would mean that the reactor was on. Heading inside to investigate, Cloud opened the large, metal doors and, stepping onto the threshold, saw a ShinRa soldier swinging the butt of his rifle at Cloud's head. As the blunt shaft connected, a jet miasma swept over Cloud's eyes and his body fell limp to the hard, metal, cold floor. 

Well, tell me what you think, flame me if you want... JUST GIVE ME A REVIEW!! If you don't want to talk about the story, at least answer this philosophical question: If you die and your life passes before your eyes, do you see things you did while you were too drunk to remember? 


	2. Herald of the Coming

Disclaimer: If I owned the FF characters, than Yuffie would be mine, all mine!!! Erh... *looks around nervously embarrassed* ...I... heh... *takes off in a run in the opposite direction*. 

Chapter 2: Herald of the Return

When Cloud awoke, he was being held by two ShinRa soldiers and a man with unruly brown hair and a lab coat stood over him, peering down at him through steel-rimmed glasses.

"Who... who are you?" Cloud managed to mumble drowsily.

"I am Lierba, and who might you be?" the strange man answered.

"C-Cloud," Cloud forced out.

"I'm sorry, but while you were knocked out I had to inject you with a Serpentine Receptor Inhibitor, so you may feel a bit... paralyzed... for a while," Lierba explained.

"Wha-what did you say about snakes?" Cloud asked, inciting an irritated growl from the scientist. 

"I said nothing about snakes!"

"B-b-but you just said..."

"I said nothing about snakes!"

"W-w-what are you doing here?"

"I am the herald of the coming of the Cetra."

"B-b-but the Cetra are d-dead."

"All but two of us."

"W-w-what do you mean b-by 'us'?"

"I am one of the Cetra."

"And the other?"

"Some girl born on the northern continent... connected with my enemy Hojo... lost track of her near Midgar."

"Aeris?"

"...something like that, yeah."

"Aeris is dead."

"Well than, I'm the last."

"If all the Cetra are dead, how are they g-g-going to come?"

"That's what I'm experimenting with, 'mako reconstruction'. By extracting mako of a specific life energy marker, I can recreate the body, mind, and soul of the being... but it's one reactor per resurrection, so now I need this one."

"Y-y-you're going to revive the Cetra?"

"This world is ours, and we're going to take it back." With that, Lierba turned to the console behind him and began to tap various buttons on it, "Status!" he commanded to the various other soldiers who stood at consoles around the room.

"Mako containment ready," one of the soldiers called back.

"LEM sensors ready," another soldier said.

"Mako extraction system ready," a third added.

"Alright, LEM selected, 564-395-326-957," Lierba said.

"LEM coordinates found," the second soldier responded.

"Initiating mako extraction," the third interjected.

"Mako screen operating at full capacity," the first informed Lierba.

"12 percent of the LEM extracted," the second chimed in.

"Mako containment within acceptable perimeters," the first said.

"26 percent... 32 percent."

"Mako condensation program activating," a fourth guard said.

"46 percent."

"Information extraction complete," a fifth soldier said, "I'm inputting the data now."

"51 percent."

"Mako condensation aligning, the physical body is being generated now."

"68 percent."

"Physical aspect generation completed."

"81 percent."

"Inputting neurological data."

"94 percent."

"Mako containment at critical!" As the soldier reported this last bit of information, the entire reactor was racked by an explosion.

"Guards! Go see to the subject!" Lierba commanded. The two guards that held Cloud dropped him and proceeded to the reactor core. While Lierba was still preoccupied with his instruments, Cloud half walked, half dragged himself after the soldiers until, after climbing/falling down a chain, he came to the central core where a woman was lying, surrounded by scrap metal. Cloud's eyes widened as the blond subject lifted her head and, because of seeing Cloud, her eyes widened in, perhaps, a mixture of every emotion possible.

Sephiroth dragged his feed slowly over the hard, arid land and through the hot, dry desert air. The urge to sleep overpowered him, but he felt weaker since his return and was unsure of whether or not he could have survived, so he struggled on in search of a town. A strong wind, focused by the cliffs on either side, whipped by Sephiroth, sending his cape forcefully out behind him as he trudged along. 

Sephiroth soon came upon a town built of huts in the side of one of the cliffs and he hurried to it as fast as his weakened body would allow. Dragging himself up the stone steps, Sephiroth collapsed at the hard, sandstone entrance of Cosmo Canyon. 

As Sephiroth forced his eyes open, he found himself on a rather hard cot and, as he struggled to sit up, he heard a voice next to him growl, "Don't." Sephiroth eased himself back down and turned his head to look at the voice, finding a red, wolf-cat thing. "Do remember, I've only kept you alive to ask you some questions."

"You're that Red... seven, or eleven, or something," Sephiroth mumbled.

"It was Red _Thirteen_," Red said with a growl, "but my name is Nanaki."

"Alright Nanaki, what do you want to know?"

"How did you get back?"

"I don't know, I awoke with some ShinRa soldiers looking down at me, than black, than I woke up... on the shore north of here."

"Alright... that answers my next question... what are you planning?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your scheme, you always have a scheme... you're like Hojo." Hojo... just the name Sephiroth visibly shudder... bat that really was true, it was truer than Hojo would like to admit.

"I'm nothing like Hojo!!" Sephiroth yelled, in a voice that filled the canyon, as he leapt to his feet. Nanaki tensed, ready to attack. Intent on showing Nanaki he had no hostile intentions, Sephiroth quickly and deftly unclipped the Masamune from his belt and dropped it to the floor in front of the red wolf-cat. Nanaki growled in understanding and calmly sat down as Sephiroth did the same.

"What are you planning?" Nanaki asked again. 

"I need to find out who brought me back and see if they pose any threat."

"To whom?"

"To me. Someone shouldn't have that much power, that, I think, is something that we both agree on."

"True."

"For now, I have no other scheme."

"For now?"

"For now."

"Someone with the power to revive the long dead... this could disrupt the nature of the lifestream itself. And we may very much need your help to stop him. That's the only thing keeping you alive."

"To draw out mako... he would need a reactor."

"Midgar, Junion, and Fort Condor are on the other continent, so we should go there last. That means the only two active reactors are in North Coral and..."

"Nibelham." Now that Sephiroth felt stronger, this was the time to mess with Nanaki's mind. With super-human speed, Sephiroth snatched up his Muramasa and took off at a run. This wasn't very effective, but he'd gotten used to it while dealing with Cloud, besides, Nanaki was his back up plan. For now, Sephiroth had only one goal, making it to Nibelham.

Alright, is this better or worse than my last chapter? Feel free to answer my philosophical question from the last chapter, if you read this story, review it!!!!! Or at least leave something!! I want to see how many people are reading my story... that's all. By the way, are there any other members of the Yuffie fan club out there. Also, anyone who can get the flashback in Kalm, please check what the name of Sephiroth's sword is when he's in your party. It's been a while since I last played the game and no one can give me a straight answer on which name it is.


End file.
